Russell Edson

Russell Edson (1935 – April 29, 2014) was an American poet, novelist, writer and illustrator, and the son of the cartoonist-screenwriter Gus Edson.

He studied art early in life and attended the Art Students League as a teenager. He began publishing poetry in the 1960s. His honors as a poet include a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting Award, and several fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Books

Edson published numerous collections of prose poetry, short stories and fables, one novel, The Song of Percival Peacock, and The Falling Sickness: A Book of Plays. His final book was See Jack (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009).

He lived in Darien, Connecticut with his wife Frances.

Selected bibliography

Full-length prose poetry collections

• See Jack (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009)
• The Rooster's Wife: Poems (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2005)
• The Tormented Mirror (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001)
• The Tunnel: Selected Poems of Russell Edson (Oberlin College Press, 1994)
• The Wounded Breakfast (Wesleyan University Press, 1985)
• With Sincerest Regrets (Burning Deck Press, 1980)
• The Reason Why the Closet-Man Is Never Sad (Wesleyan University Press, 1977)
• Edson's Mentality (OINK! Press, 1977)
• The Intuitive Journey and Other Works (Harper & Row, 1976)
• Gulping's Recital (Guignol Books, 1984)
• The Clam Theater (Wesleyan University Press, 1973)
• The Childhood Of An Equestrian (Harper & Row, 1973)
• Ceremonies in Bachelor Space (1951)

Chapbooks

• Wuck Wuck Wuck! (with linocut by Richard Mock, Red Ozier Press, 1984)

Novels

• Gulping's Recital (Guignol Books, 1984)
• The Song of Percival Peacock: A Novel (Coffee House Press, 1992)

Short Stories & Fables

• Tick Tock: Short Stories (illustrated with woodcuts, Demitasse/Coffee House Press, 1992)
• What a Man Can See: Fables (with drawings by Ray Johnson, 1969)
• The Brain Kitchen: Writings and Woodcuts (Thing Press, 1965)
• The Very Thing That Happens: Fables and Drawings (New Directions Publishing, 1964)
• Appearances: Fables and Drawings (Thing Press, 1961)
• A Stone Is Nobody's: Fables and Drawings (Thing Press, 1961)

Plays

• The Falling Sickness: A Book of Plays (New Directions Publishing, 1975)
• Ketchup opera in 2 acts. Text By Russell Edson (originally in "The Falling Sickness"), music by Franklin Stover. Scored for 2 voices & chamber orchestra.

Honors and awards

• 1992 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
• 1989 Whiting Award
• 1981 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
• 1976 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
• 1974 Guggenheim Fellowship

External links

• Audio: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac": Poems by Russell Edson
• Biography & Poems: Russell Edson
• Profile at The Whiting Foundation
• The Believer (March 2004) Why The Reader of Good Prose Poems Is Never Sad: An Appreciation of Russell Edson by Sarah Manguso
• Poems: Webdelsol > Featured Prose Poet: Russell Edson
• Review: Cricket Online: Corey Johnson review of The Rooster's Wife by Russell Edson